Capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data

ABSTRACT

A method and associated systems for capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data. A processor of a service-management system intercepts a service request requesting that the hybrid cloud&#39;s orchestration mechanism provision or deprovision a configuration item of the hybrid cloud. The service-management system identifies the configuration item by examining the service request and then forwards the request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism. After confirming that the request has been satisfied, the service-management system retrieves from the orchestration mechanism provisioning information that describes attributes of the newly provisioned or deprovisioned configuration item and uses this information to update a configuration-management database, marking any provisioning information newly stored in the database as being authorized for use by other management systems of the hybrid cloud. The service-management system then enhances the stored data by means of an artificially intelligent analytics module and additional configuration-item data collected by a discovery agent.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to provisioning virtual resources in acloud-computing environment and, in particular, to capturing informationdescribing configuration items (CIs) required in order to manage ahybrid cloud-computing environment.

A hybrid cloud is a type of computing infrastructure that includes oneor more “private” cloud or non-cloud environments under control of auser, and at least one “public” cloud-computing environment managed by athird party, such as a commercial broker of cloud-based services. Thesepublic and private zones of a hybrid cloud are distinct entities, butare coupled closely enough to enable multiple deployment models.

For example, a hybrid cloud might include a set of virtualized PaaS(Platform as a Service) services provisioned on a public cloud. In thiscase, provisioning these PaaS services on a public cloud might makethose services more readily available to applications residing in otherzones of the hybrid cloud, such as a private cloud or a privatenon-cloud enterprise data center.

Managing hybrid-cloud resources can be complex, and this is especiallytrue when a hybrid cloud comprises non-virtualized domains. In suchcases, change-management or service-management tasks may be at leastpartly handled by a dedicated service-management system (or “SMS”) thattracks, manages, and controls configuration items (“CIs”). As the termis used here, a CI may be any entity of the hybrid cloud that must bemanaged and controlled in order to deliver a service. These entitiesmay, for example, be comprise virtual machines, applications,infrastructure components, specific instances of software objects,configuration settings, middleware, networks, or a service itself.

In some embodiments, each CI may be identified by a unique name and aset of specific attributes, allowing an SMS to manage the CI as aself-contained unit throughout its lifecycle. This CI information may bestored or modeled in a configuration-management database (“CMDB”) thatstores attribute data about each CI and about relationships between CIs.This attribute data may, for example, comprise a combination ofsoftware-configuration settings, hardware specifications, or applicationrequirements. Stored relationships between CIs may, for example,comprise a dependency relationship that requires two types of virtualmachine to be provisioned in a certain order, or a relationship betweena software application and an infrastructure component on which theapplication is installed.

Existing service-management systems generally use an automated discoveryagent (or agentless tool) to collect CI information fromservice-management end points, such as network-management systems,infrastructure components, or network nodes. This discovered CIinformation is then stored in a CMDB for ongoing reference.

Data collected in this way, however, is not automatically validated asbeing accurate and current enough to be used reliably forconfiguration-management, billing-management, event-management, or otherpurposes by authorized IT-management systems like an SMS or achange-management system. Therefore, stored CI data must be validated or“promoted” to an authorized status, often by consolidating the stored CIdata with other change-management data. In some cases, only validated CIinformation stored in a configuration-management database may be used byan authorized user or management system.

Because discovery entails examining every configuration item of everynetwork of a hybrid cloud, using a discovery mechanism to populate aCMDB can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. In addition, adiscovery tool must be initialized with details of the managed cloudenvironment in order to access every CI, such as a model of each cloud'snetwork topology or privacy and security constraints that may restrictaccess to certain CIs.

It can also be difficult for a discovery tool to ensure that it isaccurately tracking current states of every CI if a cloud is known tofrequently provision and deprovision virtual resources. In such cases,by the time a discovery agent has finished traversing a large network,some virtualized CIs may have been added, deleted, or reconfigured by acloud-orchestration mechanism or other provisioning function, thusrendering at least part of the discovered information obsolete before itcan be reported.

Furthermore, although discovery agents can discover CIs known to aparticular user's cloud-computing environment, they may not be able toidentify changes made by a cloud-service provider without the user'sknowledge. This may make it impossible to consolidate certain CIs withchange-management data used by the cloud provider. In such cases, CIdata may be known to a cloud's cloud-orchestration mechanism becausethat data is needed to perform operations like provisioning virtualizedresources. However, existing CI discovery agents generally have no wayto access that information.

There is thus a need for a method of capturing CI data and populating aCMDB that does not require brute-force automated discovery and there isa particular need for a way to access and consolidate existingconfiguration-item provisioning information that may already be known toa cloud-orchestration mechanism.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An embodiment of the present invention provides a service-managementsystem of a hybrid cloud comprising a processor, a memory coupled to theprocessor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled tothe processor, the storage device containing program code configured tobe run by the processor via the memory to implement a method forcapturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, themethod comprising:

intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestrationmechanism of the hybrid cloud, where the service request is capable ofrequesting that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision ordeprovision a virtualized configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

extracting from the service request an identification of a request toprovision a first configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;

determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has provisioned thefirst configuration item:

capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestrationmechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one ormore attributes of the first configuration item; and

updating a configuration-management database with the capturedprovisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides method forcapturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, themethod comprising:

intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestrationmechanism of a hybrid cloud, where the service request is capable ofrequesting that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision ordeprovision a virtualized configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

extracting from the service request an identification of a request toprovision a first configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;

determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has provisioned thefirst configuration item;

capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestrationmechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one ormore attributes of the first configuration item; and

updating a configuration-management database with the capturedprovisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a computerprogram product, comprising a computer-readable hardware storage devicehaving a computer-readable program code stored therein, the program codeconfigured to be executed by a service-management system comprising aprocessor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readablehardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage devicecontaining program code configured to be run by the processor via thememory to implement a method for capturing configuration items fromhybrid-cloud provisioning data, the method for capturing configurationitems from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, the method comprising:

intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestrationmechanism of a hybrid cloud, where the service request is capable ofrequesting that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision ordeprovision a virtualized configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

extracting from the service request an identification of a request toprovision a first configuration item of the hybrid cloud;

forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;

determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has provisioned thefirst configuration item;

capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestrationmechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one ormore attributes of the first configuration item; and

updating a configuration-management database with the capturedprovisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a computer system and computer programcode that may be used to implement a method for capturing configurationitems from hybrid-cloud provisioning data in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows elements of a cloud-computing architecture within which maybe implemented embodiments of the present invention shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates steps of a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention comprises systems and associated methods forcapturing identifying information of configuration items (CIs) incloud-computing environment like a hybrid cloud that comprises bothpublic clouds and private clouds. Rather than using a conventionaldiscovery mechanism, such as a discovery agent that crawls an entirenetwork infrastructure to identify CI information accessible to acloud-service user, the present invention captures this information fromprovisioning data used by a cloud-orchestration facility of the cloud'smanagement platform.

This document uses the term “Service Management” to describe strategicapproaches to designing, delivering, managing, and improving ways inwhich information technology is used to provide services or resourceswithin an organization. Service-management systems seek to managepeople, processes, and technology to best ensure that an organizationcan meet its business goals.

“Configuration management” describes any systems-engineering processintended to ensure that a product's performance, functionality, andphysical attributes remain consistent with those identified by theproduct's requirements, design, and operational parameters throughoutthe product's lifecycle.

A configuration item (or “CI”) is any component of an IT Infrastructurethat is subject to formal change control by a configuration-managementapplication or process. Configuration items may in some cases includedocumentary items, such as a service customer's service-level agreementor a Request for Change document.

It is to be understood that although this disclosure includes a detaileddescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure that includes anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 includes one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 1 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 2, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 1) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may include applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93, data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and orchestrating the capture of informationdescribing Configuration Items of a hybrid cloud-computing network.

Aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

FIG. 3 shows a structure of a computer system and computer program codethat may be used to implement a method for capturing configuration itemsfrom hybrid-cloud provisioning data in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention. FIG. 3 refers to objects 301-315.

In FIG. 3, computer system 301 comprises a processor 303 coupled throughone or more I/O Interfaces 309 to one or more hardware data storagedevices 311 and one or more I/O devices 313 and 315.

Hardware data storage devices 311 may include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape drives, fixed or removable hard disks, optical discs,storage-equipped mobile devices, and solid-state random-access orread-only storage devices. I/O devices may comprise, but are not limitedto: input devices 313, such as keyboards, scanners, handheldtelecommunications devices, touch-sensitive displays, tablets, biometricreaders, joysticks, trackballs, or computer mice; and output devices315, which may comprise, but are not limited to printers, plotters,tablets, mobile telephones, displays, or sound-producing devices. Datastorage devices 311, input devices 313, and output devices 315 may belocated either locally or at remote sites from which they are connectedto I/O Interface 309 through a network interface.

Processor 303 may also be connected to one or more memory devices 305,which may include, but are not limited to, Dynamic RAM (DRAM), StaticRAM (SRAM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Field-ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGA), Secure Digital memory cards, SIM cards, or othertypes of memory devices.

At least one memory device 305 contains stored computer program code307, which is a computer program that comprises computer-executableinstructions. The stored computer program code includes a program thatimplements a method for capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloudprovisioning data in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention, and may implement other embodiments described in thisspecification, including the methods illustrated in FIGS. 1-5. The datastorage devices 311 may store the computer program code 307. Computerprogram code 307 stored in the storage devices 311 is configured to beexecuted by processor 303 via the memory devices 305. Processor 303executes the stored computer program code 307.

In some embodiments, rather than being stored and accessed from a harddrive, optical disc or other writeable, rewriteable, or removablehardware data-storage device 311, stored computer program code 307 maybe stored on a static, nonremovable, read-only storage medium such as aRead-Only Memory (ROM) device 305, or may be accessed by processor 303directly from such a static, nonremovable, read-only medium 305.Similarly, in some embodiments, stored computer program code 307 may bestored as computer-readable firmware 305, or may be accessed byprocessor 303 directly from such firmware 305, rather than from a moredynamic or removable hardware data-storage device 311, such as a harddrive or optical disc.

Thus the present invention discloses a process for supporting computerinfrastructure, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deployingcomputer-readable code into the computer system 301, wherein the code incombination with the computer system 301 is capable of performing amethod for capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioningdata.

Any of the components of the present invention could be created,integrated, hosted, maintained, deployed, managed, serviced, supported,etc. by a service provider who offers to facilitate a method forcapturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data. Thusthe present invention discloses a process for deploying or integratingcomputing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable codeinto the computer system 301, wherein the code in combination with thecomputer system 301 is capable of performing a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data.

One or more data storage units 311 (or one or more additional memorydevices not shown in FIG. 3) may be used as a computer-readable hardwarestorage device having a computer-readable program embodied thereinand/or having other data stored therein, wherein the computer-readableprogram comprises stored computer program code 307. Generally, acomputer program product (or, alternatively, an article of manufacture)of computer system 301 may comprise the computer-readable hardwarestorage device.

While it is understood that program code 307 for a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data may be deployedby manually loading the program code 307 directly into client, server,and proxy computers (not shown) by loading the program code 307 into acomputer-readable storage medium (e.g., computer data storage device311), program code 307 may also be automatically or semi-automaticallydeployed into computer system 301 by sending program code 307 to acentral server (e.g., computer system 301) or to a group of centralservers. Program code 307 may then be downloaded into client computers(not shown) that will execute program code 307.

Alternatively, program code 307 may be sent directly to the clientcomputer via e-mail. Program code 307 may then either be detached to adirectory on the client computer or loaded into a directory on theclient computer by an e-mail option that selects a program that detachesprogram code 307 into the directory.

Another alternative is to send program code 307 directly to a directoryon the client computer hard drive. If proxy servers are configured, theprocess selects the proxy server code, determines on which computers toplace the proxy servers' code, transmits the proxy server code, and theninstalls the proxy server code on the proxy computer. Program code 307is then transmitted to the proxy server and stored on the proxy server.

In one embodiment, program code 307 for a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data is integratedinto a client, server and network environment by providing for programcode 307 to coexist with software applications (not shown), operatingsystems (not shown) and network operating systems software (not shown)and then installing program code 307 on the clients and servers in theenvironment where program code 307 will function.

The first step of the aforementioned integration of code included inprogram code 307 is to identify any software on the clients and servers,including the network operating system (not shown), where program code307 will be deployed that are required by program code 307 or that workin conjunction with program code 307. This identified software includesthe network operating system, where the network operating systemcomprises software that enhances a basic operating system by addingnetworking features. Next, the software applications and version numbersare identified and compared to a list of software applications andcorrect version numbers that have been tested to work with program code307. A software application that is missing or that does not match acorrect version number is upgraded to the correct version.

A program instruction that passes parameters from program code 307 to asoftware application is checked to ensure that the instruction'sparameter list matches a parameter list required by the program code307. Conversely, a parameter passed by the software application toprogram code 307 is checked to ensure that the parameter matches aparameter required by program code 307. The client and server operatingsystems, including the network operating systems, are identified andcompared to a list of operating systems, version numbers, and networksoftware programs that have been tested to work with program code 307.An operating system, version number, or network software program thatdoes not match an entry of the list of tested operating systems andversion numbers is upgraded to the listed level on the client computersand upgraded to the listed level on the server computers.

After ensuring that the software, where program code 307 is to bedeployed, is at a correct version level that has been tested to workwith program code 307, the integration is completed by installingprogram code 307 on the clients and servers.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as a methodperformed by a processor of a computer system, as a computer programproduct, as a computer system, or as a processor-performed process orservice for supporting computer infrastructure.

FIG. 4 shows elements of a cloud-computing architecture within which maybe implemented embodiments of the present invention described in FIG. 5.FIG. 4 contains items 400-460 and 4000-4002.

Items 4000-4002 are components of a hybrid cloud-computing platform.

Item 4000 is the cloud platform itself, which may comprise numerousvirtualized resources and other configuration items (or “CIs”), such asvirtual machines, servers, networks, workloads, software applications,middleware, and runtime environments, as well as components or specificattributes of such entities.

Cloud platform 4000 may also comprise a conventionalconfiguration-discovery tool 400, such as a discovery agent, thattraverses one or more clouds 410 of cloud platform 4000 in order todiscover details of each provisioned configuration item within a managedcloud environment 410. This discovery tool 400 attempts to identifyevery potential CI comprised by a cloud 410, discovering uniqueidentifiers and attributes of each CI. In some embodiments, thediscovery tool 400 may also determine relationships, such as dependencyrelationships, between or among CIs.

Cloud-platform 4000 is managed by a cloud-management platform, stack, orother management mechanism 4001 known in the art. One componentcomprised by this cloud-management platform may be an enterprisecloud-orchestration module 420, which is responsible, among otherthings, for orchestrating the provisioning and deprovisioning ofvirtualized cloud resources, including configuration items. In someembodiments, cloud orchestration mechanism 420 may comprise anorchestration database or a service catalog that stores informationabout characteristics of each virtual resource or service that may beprovisioned or deprovisioned.

Item 4002 is an enterprise-wide service-management system (or “SMS”),which controls and manages cloud-based services operating within thecloud-computing platform 4000.

SMS 4002 comprises a configuration management database (or “CMDB”) 440,which stores configuration records or other data items identifyingattributes of each CI within the managed cloud environments 4000.

A CMDB 440 can be defined broadly as any repository or data warehousethat stores configuration data capable of supporting aninformation-technology installation. In embodiments and examplesdescribed in this document, CMDB 440 stores data associated with ITassets (referred to in this document as “configuration items”), as wellas to descriptions of relationships among CI assets. In general,information stored in CMDB 440 allows an information system, such as achange-management system or a cloud's service-management system, toquickly identify authenticated attributes of assets crucial to thehybrid cloud. These attributes may, for example, compriseidentifications of a CI's upstream source CIs, dependency relationshipswith other CIs, or downstream target CIs.

In embodiments of FIG. 4, CMDB 440 may be used by a change-managementsystem 450 to identify attributes of configuration items under controlof change-management system 450. As defined here, a change-managementsystem 450 attempts to ensure that infrastructure changes requested inorder to manage network infrastructure are handled by standard,efficient procedures. These changes may be identified by servicerequests to a cloud-orchestration mechanism 420 and may derive from avariety of sources, such as from contractual or technical constraints orrequirements, hardware or software upgrades, maintenance procedures, oras indirect results of user requests. When making a change to a knownconfiguration item, allowing a change-management system 450 to use CIinformation stored in the CMDB 440 to manage the change helps ensurethat the change is performed in a predictable, standardized manner.Embodiments of the present invention facilitate this goal by efficientlyand accurately populating CMDB 440 with validated CI information.

The cloud-management platform 4001 interfaces to components of the SMS4002 through a data-aggregator module 430, which may be implemented byany means known in the art. Data aggregation may, for example, beperformed by means of standard Application Programming Interface (“API”)system calls or by requesting standardized Web services.

Analytics tool, application, or software module 460 is an artificiallyintelligent module that is based on known methods of analytics.Analytics module 460 may perform analytics-based inferential proceduresby any technologies or techniques known in the art of artificialintelligence, such as by means of an inference engine, a knowledgebase,or of concepts and rules organized into an ontology.

In embodiments of the present invention analytics module 460 may analyzeCI-attribute data stored in configuration-management database 440 inorder to identify more nuanced relationships and attributes ofconfiguration items. This data may have been captured bydata-aggregation module 430 from one or more cloud-orchestrationmechanisms 420.

For example, in a hybrid cloud that consists of 90% virtualized cloudresources and 10% legacy non-cloud resources, discovery may be requiredfor identifying configuration-item attributes associated with thenon-cloud resources. In some cases, that discovered information may needto be validated or consolidated in order to store it in records of aCMDB 440 capable of being used by authorized management systems.

In some embodiments, an implementer may also desire to discover evencloud-based configuration-item attributes in order to increaseconfidence in CI data captured from cloud-orchestration database bymeans of a method of the present invention. In such cases, discovery maybe limited, at an implementer's discretion, to an initial period of timeduring which a new embodiment is still being vetted.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates steps of a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 5 contains steps500-570.

In step 500, service-management system 4002 captures a service requestgenerated automatically by a managed cloud environment 410 or by a userof a managed cloud environment 410. This service request may haveoriginally been directed to a cloud-orchestration mechanism, such ascloud orchestrator 420, that is responsible for orchestrating andmanaging responses to service requests, including provisioning anddeprovisioning cloud-based virtual resources and services.

This service request comprises a request for a cloud service, such as avirtual machine, a runtime environment, a software application, or aSaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS(Platform as a Service) offering of a cloud provider selected from thecloud-provider's service catalog. The service request may, for example,request that a virtualized component be provisioned or deprovisioned, orthat an instance of a software object or other configuration item beprovisioned or deprovisioned.

The service-management system 4002 may in this step identify one or moreconfiguration items that are the subject of this service request. Theseone or more CIs may comprise any configuration items associated with therequested service, such as a runtime environment, a virtualinfrastructure component, a virtual storage object, or an instance of anapplication. For example, if the service request requests that aninstance of a virtualized server be provisioned, system 4002 may in thisstep determine that the service request identifies one or moreconfiguration objects that will be comprised by that virtualizedservice.

In step 510, the service-management system 4002 forwards the servicerequest to the cloud-orchestration mechanism, such as the cloudorchestrator 420, through the data-aggregator 420 interface.

In step 520, the cloud-orchestration mechanism 420 performs therequested service. This service may comprise provisioning,deprovisioning, configuring, or performing some other operation upon theone or more configuration items identified in step 500.

In step 530, the service-management system 4002 receives notice throughthe data-aggregator 420 interface or otherwise determines that thecloud-orchestration mechanism 420 has successfully completed therequested service. If the requested service cannot be successfullycompleted, the method of FIG. 5 ends because no configuration items willhave been created or deleted by the orchestration mechanism 420.

The system 4002 in this step also receives CI information about theconfiguration item (including the service itself) through thedata-aggregator 430 or other interface between the service-managementsystem 4002 and the orchestrator 420 of cloud-management platform 4001.In embodiments of the present invention data-aggregator 430 may use APIsystem calls or Web services in order to filter and format dataextracted from a component of cloud-management platform 4001 (such as anenterprise cloud-orchestrator module 420) in order to facilitatingstoring that data in configuration-management database 440. If properlyconfigured, the data-aggregator 430 may in this way increase efficiencyand reliability of an embodiment by facilitating straightforward mappingof data stored in a database of an orchestration mechanism 420 to a dataorganization of a schema of the CMDB 440.

This received CI information may comprise any attributes of the one ormore CIs associated with the service request that are set by theorchestration mechanism 420 and that may be required by theservice-management system 4002 in order to manage or control theprovisioned service. These attributes might, for example, comprise aunique identifier, such as a network address or hostname, aconfiguration setting, or a requirement for an external resource. Theseattributes might also identify relationships among configurations, suchas a dependency relationship that specifies that a virtual LAN CI mustbe provisioned in managed cloud 410 before a server virtual machine canbe provisioned in that same cloud 410.

The SMS 4002 in this step then stores the CI-attribute information inthe configuration-management database 440, where it may be used by theSMS 4002 to manage and control future services, or to ensure thatservices are implemented and managed in a structured manner that isconsistent with business priorities.

In some embodiments, the received CI-attribute data may be received froman orchestration database managed by the enterprise cloud orchestrator420. In such cases, SMS 4002 may confirm in this step that theorchestration database and the CMDB 440 store the received CI-attributedata in a manner that allows the two databases to be mapped.

The CI-attribute data may be transferred from cloud-management platform4001 to the service-management system 4002 through the data aggregator430 by means of conventional system calls to an Application ProgrammingInterface (“API”). Calls to the common Representational state transfer(REST) API, for example, may be used to extract provisioning data andrelations from the database of cloud orchestrator 420 and load intoenterprise CMDB.

In other embodiments, the CI-attribute data may be transferred fromcloud-management platform 4001 to the service-management system 4002through the data aggregator 430 by means of existing Web services of anenterprise configuration-management mechanism. In such cases, theconfiguration-management mechanism may build a Web-service templatesuitable for provisioning data. This may allow data aggregator interface430 to retrieve provisioning data and relationship information for theone or more CIs through the Web service, and further allow the system4002 to load the retrieved data into CMDB 440 in accordance with abuilt-in template provided by the Web service.

In step 540, SMS 4002 marks the CI-attribute data loaded into CMDB 440in step 530 as being authorized, despite the fact that a conventionalconsolidation operation has not been performed on the CI-attribute data.This marking may be performed by any means known in the art, such as bysetting a flag or configuring an attribute field of the CMDB 440 that isassociated with the stored CI data.

This step is made possible by the assumption that, in a properlyimplemented cloud, only an authorized user or program can order aprovisioning or deprovisioning service through the cloud's servicecatalog. The CI-attribute data and the CI itself may thus be presumed tobe authorized. In such cases, no further consolidation or promotionprocedure is required to validate or confirm that the storedCI-attribute data is authorized.

In step 550, analytics module, tool, or application 460 performs anartificially intelligent analytics function upon the newly storedCI-attribute data. In some cases, this analytics module 550 may be basedon technologies and techniques known in the field of artificialintelligence or inferential logic, and may incorporate known AIcomponents, such as a knowledgebase or an ontology of concepts andrules.

Embodiments of the present invention are flexible enough to accommodateany known commercially available analytics module 550 or a proprietaryanalytics module 550 written especially for a particular implementation.

The analytics operation performed by analytics module 550 may bedirected toward identifying deeper relationships among configurationitems than might be directly identified by the received provisioningdata.

In one example analytics module 460 might enhance CI data received fromthe cloud orchestrator 420 by inferring dependencies and otherrelationships, configuration constraints, impact upon other CIs, orresource constraints that might affect future provisioning decisions orother service-related issues.

Some embodiments may comprise multiple analytics modules 460, each ofwhich may perform a distinct class of analytics functions or otherartificially intelligent inferential tasks.

In step 560, service-management system 4002 may optionally perform adiscovery operation, similar to those performed by a bot or an agent ofa conventional SMS systems in order to collect CI-attribute data.

Although this discovery mechanism is not needed by embodiments of thepresent invention, discovering CI-attribute data may be used to enhance,complement, or elaborate data received from orchestration-mechanism 420.

In one example, consider a hybrid cloud in which 90% of itsconfiguration items are virtualized, but the other 10% reside in alegacy non-cloud enterprise-computing environment. In this case, it isnot possible to capture attribute data of the non-cloud CIs becausenonvirtualized systems, services, resources, and infrastructure are notprovisioned by a cloud-orchestration mechanism 420. A discoverymechanism might thus be required to capture and populate CMDB 440 withCI-attribute data for non-cloud CIs.

As with known discovery-based CI-capturing procedures, the CI attributedata captured by a discovery mechanism in this example, might requirefurther processing in order validate the captured non-cloud data.

In some embodiments, using a discovery tool to capture CI-attribute dataor change data may be redundant with the rest of the procedure of FIG. 5or may not be practical or appropriate in virtualized regions of ahybrid cloud. But even in those cases, this optional discovery proceduremay be implemented in order to provide additional confidence in theprovisioning and relationship data retrieved from thecloud-orchestration mechanism 420 in step 530, or in the CI attributesand relationships inferred in step 550.

For example, it may be possible in some embodiments to run theconfiguration-discovery tool 400 once a week, storing the discovery-tool400 output in the CMDB as a weekly bulk transfer. In such a case,provisioning data captured from cloud-orchestration system 420 may be aprimary method of capturing CI data, and discovery is used only toenhance or further ensure accuracy of the captured provisioning data.Discovered data may, for example, identify second-order characteristicsof a CI that are not required in order to perform a provisioningoperation. In other cases, if a discovery tool 400 has been in use foran extended period of time, may have accumulated a large body ofCI-attribute information that may be used to augment newly capturedprovisioning data that has not yet been collected for a long enoughperiod of time to be considered reliable in certain circumstances.

In step 560, the service-management system 4002 adds any newlydiscovered CI-attribute change data to CMDB 440. This additional storeddata may be used by SMS 402 to control and manage change requests orservice requests related to CIs in a non-cloud region of the hybridcloud.

What is claimed is:
 1. A service-management system of a hybrid cloudcomprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and acomputer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, thestorage device containing program code configured to be run by theprocessor via the memory to implement a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, the methodcomprising: intercepting a service request directed to acloud-orchestration mechanism of the hybrid cloud, where the servicerequest is capable of requesting that the cloud-orchestration mechanismprovision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item of the hybridcloud; extracting from the service request an identification of arequest to provision a first configuration item of the hybrid cloud;forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has provisioned thefirst configuration item; capturing provisioning information from thecloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured provisioninginformation describes one or more attributes of the first configurationitem; and updating a configuration-management database with the capturedprovisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.
 2. The system of claim 1,further comprising: extracting from the service request anidentification of a request to deprovision a second configuration itemof the hybrid cloud; forwarding the service request to thecloud-orchestration mechanism; determining that the cloud-orchestrationmechanism has deprovisioned the second configuration item; capturingdeprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, wherethe captured deprovisioning information describes one or more attributesof the second configuration item; and deleting from theconfiguration-management database stored data characterizing the secondconfiguration item.
 3. The system of claim 1, where the capturingfurther comprises: capturing the provisioning information from acloud-orchestration database of the cloud-orchestration mechanism; andformatting the captured provisioning information into a format that iscompatible with a format of the configuration-management database. 4.The system of claim 1, further comprising: marking the capturedprovisioning data stored in the configuration-management database asbeing validated for use by an IT-management system of the hybrid cloud.5. The system of claim 1, further comprising: identifying, through adiscovery software module, one or more attributes of a thirdconfiguration item of the hybrid cloud; and storing the one or moreattributes of the third configuration item in theconfiguration-management database.
 6. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: enhancing the captured provisioning data by submitting it toan artificially intelligent analytics application capable of inferringadditional characteristics of the first configuration item from thecaptured provisioning data.
 7. The system of claim 5, where theenhancing comprises identifying a dependency relationship between thefirst configuration item and another configuration item of the hybridcloud.
 8. A method for capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloudprovisioning data, the method comprising: intercepting a service requestdirected to a cloud-orchestration mechanism of a hybrid cloud, where theservice request is capable of requesting that the cloud-orchestrationmechanism provision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item ofthe hybrid cloud; extracting from the service request an identificationof a request to provision a first configuration item of the hybridcloud; forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestrationmechanism; determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism hasprovisioned the first configuration item; capturing provisioninginformation from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the capturedprovisioning information describes one or more attributes of the firstconfiguration item; and updating a configuration-management databasewith the captured provisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.
 9. The method of claim 8,further comprising: extracting from the service request anidentification of a request to deprovision a second configuration itemof the hybrid cloud; forwarding the service request to thecloud-orchestration mechanism; determining that the cloud-orchestrationmechanism has deprovisioned the second configuration item; capturingdeprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, wherethe captured deprovisioning information describes one or more attributesof the second configuration item; and deleting from theconfiguration-management database stored data characterizing the secondconfiguration item.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:marking the captured provisioning data stored in theconfiguration-management database as being validated for use by anIT-management system of the hybrid cloud.
 11. The method of claim 8,further comprising: identifying, through a discovery software module,one or more attributes of a third configuration item of the hybridcloud; and storing the one or more attributes of the third configurationitem in the configuration-management database.
 12. The method of claim8, further comprising: enhancing the captured provisioning data bysubmitting it to an artificially intelligent analytics applicationcapable of inferring additional characteristics of the firstconfiguration item from the captured provisioning data.
 13. The methodof claim 12, where the enhancing comprises identifying a dependencyrelationship between the first configuration item and anotherconfiguration item of the hybrid cloud.
 14. The method of claim 8,further comprising providing at least one support service for at leastone of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deployingcomputer-readable program code in the computer system, wherein thecomputer-readable program code in combination with the computer systemis configured to implement the intercepting, the extracting, theforwarding, the determining, the capturing, and the updating.
 15. Acomputer program product, comprising a computer-readable hardwarestorage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein,the program code configured to be executed by a service-managementsystem comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and acomputer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, thestorage device containing program code configured to be run by theprocessor via the memory to implement a method for capturingconfiguration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, the method forcapturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data, themethod comprising: intercepting a service request directed to acloud-orchestration mechanism of a hybrid cloud, where the servicerequest is capable of requesting that the cloud-orchestration mechanismprovision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item of the hybridcloud; extracting from the service request an identification of arequest to provision a first configuration item of the hybrid cloud;forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has provisioned thefirst configuration item; capturing provisioning information from thecloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured provisioninginformation describes one or more attributes of the first configurationitem; and updating a configuration-management database with the capturedprovisioning information, where data stored in theconfiguration-management database identifies attributes of one or moreconfiguration items of the hybrid cloud.
 16. The computer programproduct of claim 15, further comprising: extracting from the servicerequest an identification of a request to deprovision a secondconfiguration item of the hybrid cloud; forwarding the service requestto the cloud-orchestration mechanism; determining that thecloud-orchestration mechanism has deprovisioned the second configurationitem; capturing deprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestrationmechanism, where the captured deprovisioning information describes oneor more attributes of the second configuration item; and deleting fromthe configuration-management database stored data characterizing thesecond configuration item.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15,further comprising: marking the captured provisioning data stored in theconfiguration-management database as being validated for use by anIT-management system of the hybrid cloud.
 18. The computer programproduct of claim 15, further comprising: identifying, through adiscovery software module, one or more attributes of a thirdconfiguration item of the hybrid cloud; and storing the one or moreattributes of the third configuration item in theconfiguration-management database.
 19. The computer program product ofclaim 15, further comprising: enhancing the captured provisioning databy submitting it to an artificially intelligent analytics applicationcapable of inferring additional characteristics of the firstconfiguration item from the captured provisioning data.
 20. The computerprogram product of claim 19, where the enhancing comprises identifying adependency relationship between the first configuration item and anotherconfiguration item of the hybrid cloud.